You’ve got the brand guidelines. The fonts are right. The colours are spot on. The logo is sitting neatly in the corner. But something still feels… off.

We hear this a lot from clients after they hand their brand over to an in-house team. The designs technically tick all the brand boxes, but the final result doesn’t feel aligned, confident or well put together. And the reason isn’t branding. It’s design.

Here’s why “on brand” doesn’t always mean “well designed” - and how to fix it when things start to go sideways.

The problem isn’t the brand. It’s the execution

We see it all the time. A brand gets handed over to an internal team and suddenly everything feels a bit flat. The designs look like they’ve followed the rules, but they just don't look good.

Usually, it comes down to this:

• No clear visual hierarchy
• Too much (or too little) white space
• Misaligned layouts
• Overloaded text blocks
• Clunky use of colours or icons
• And in some cases, someone trying to “jazz it up” a little too much

None of these things technically break the brand guidelines. But they break the design.

Brand guidelines aren’t a magic wand

Brand guidelines are meant to be a toolkit, not a guarantee of great design. They give you the ingredients, but they don’t automatically bake the cake.

You still need:

• An understanding of design principles
• A sense of balance and spacing
• An eye for layout, alignment and flow
• The ability to make judgment calls based on context

Otherwise, you end up with something that’s technically on brand but visually confusing, cluttered or just a bit… off.

Why this happens in-house

Most of the time, it’s not anyone’s fault. Internal teams are often:

• Working quickly
• Leaning on junior staff or non-designers
• Using pre-made templates with minimal design oversight
• Focused on content more than layout

And when you're short on time or design skill, it's easy to fall into “copy and paste from the brand book” mode.

How to bridge the gap

If you're finding that your in-house assets don’t quite live up to the brand you invested in, here’s what you can do:

1. Train your team on basic design principles
Even a one-hour session on layout, hierarchy and alignment can go a long way. You don’t need every team member to be a designer, but they should understand the basics.

2. Create flexible templates with guardrails
Build templates that lock in key elements but still give room for customisation. It helps maintain consistency without limiting creativity.

3. Assign a design reviewer
Have one person with a good design eye, whether internal or external, give sign-off before anything goes live. It keeps the quality bar high.

4. Give feedback early and often
If something feels off, don’t just say “this isn’t working.” Explain why. Point to hierarchy, alignment or spacing. The more your team understands the reason behind the feedback, the stronger their work becomes.

Final Thoughts

Following the brand guidelines is important. But great design comes from how you use them, not just whether you stick to the rules.

If your in-house designs feel like they’re missing the mark, the issue probably isn’t your brand. It’s the design execution. And the good news is, with the right training, feedback and support, you can fix that.

At The Marketing Mix, we don’t just create brand guidelines and disappear. We help teams actually use them properly, so the brand you signed off on is the brand people see in real life.